gopher ball

noun

: a pitched baseball hit for a home run

Example Sentences

a pitcher who has thrown eight gopher balls so far this year

Recent Examples on the Web Terry’s manager, Casey Stengel, defended him, even though the gopher ball effectively cost Stengel his job. —

David Margolick, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2022 Despite the gopher ball, Sale looked a lot more like his old self and got through the first two innings on 28 pitches. —

BostonGlobe.com, 21 Oct. 2021 On the very next pitch, a 92 mph fastball, Kershaw served up a nearly identical homer to catcher Jeff Mathis, a .215/.277/.323 hitter with two homers in 203 PA; the four gopher balls matched his career high, set on June 19 against the Mets. —

Jay Jaffe, SI.com, 7 Oct. 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gopher ball.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.